Portsmouth’s Nathan Rand tears around the bases during 14-year-old Babe Ruth state tournament action on Thursday in Barrington. (Doyle/Democrat photo)

BARRINGTON — The Portsmouth 14-year-old Babe Ruth All-Star baseball team plays best when its back is against the wall. It continued that trend on Thursday with a 9-1 win over Plymouth in the state tournament losers’ bracket semifinal.

Portsmouth scored six runs on five hits in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 deadlock and blow the game open.

“The last two games, they knew it was win or go home,” Portsmouth coach Steve LaLime said. “We had one bad game against Manchester (in the opening round) where we didn’t show up to play, and it got them going.”

The Portsmouth nine is now 2-1 in the state tournament and will face host Barrington tonight (5 p.m.) for a chance to play in Saturday’s final against Manchester.

Of Portsmouth’s five hits in the sixth inning, three were RBI doubles. Nathan Rand hit the first, followed by Kyle Maurice. Two batters after Maurice, Jared Padgett got in on the action with an RBI double of his own.

David Ecker and David Feals each had an RBI single in the fifth. When the dust settled, Portsmouth had a 7-1 lead.

“They’re good hitters,” Plymouth coach Tom Underwood said about Portsmouth. “In the first four innings we kept the ball away, changed speeds a little bit on them and kept them off balance. They eventually caught up. Our kids battled, but hats off to Portsmouth. They’re a fine young ball team.”

Feals was the winning pitcher. He struck out eight in five innings of work, walking five and allowing a single run. That came in the bottom of the third inning, when he walked Bailey Nangle with the bases loaded to score Tyler Mersch.

“He pitched a great game,” LaLime said about Feals. “He threw strikes and we had good defense. That wins games in baseball.”

Portsmouth got a run in the top of the second inning. Padgett reached on an error and scored when Sam Grattan grounded out to the pitcher.

Plymouth starting pitcher Harrison Macomber struck out three over 4.2 innings. He was lifted in the fifth with his team trailing 3-1. He gave up three hits and walked one. Plymouth’s Harry Shamberger was 3 for 3 with three singles. He was also hit by a pitch.

Portsmouth got a pair of insurance runs in the sixth inning. Aidan Moore hit a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Maurice. Ecker walked and scored on an infield single by Ryan Linchey.